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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27717056">from viewers like you (thank you)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyvtae/pseuds/kyvtae'>kyvtae</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Red String of Fate, Romantic Soulmates, Symbolism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:07:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,285</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27717056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyvtae/pseuds/kyvtae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Let me make one thing clear to you. Our characters may be soulmates, but we are not. None of that on-screen business is real. We kiss and we hug and we dance around together in front of the cameras but after? I plan to stay at least ten feet from you and the rest of this freaking cast. I hope you plan on that too.”</p>
<p>Or: Dongyoung can't quite take his eyes off of his new co-star, but Youngho won't even look in his direction.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Suh Youngho | Johnny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Challenge #3 — soulmates, WIP OLYMPICS: WINTER 2020/21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>from viewers like you (thank you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title inspired by old-school television end credits (pbs)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Lights! Camera! Action! Homosexuality?</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">That was a new one. The show was risky... nothing like Korea had ever seen before.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Soulmates weren’t an uncommon concept for dramas nowadays. The general public seemed to be enamored by that small red string of fate, and apparently, so were the producers at KBS. Virtually every currently-airing plot seemed to be some variation of the same exact outline: guy meets girl, girl hates guy, guy loves girl, girl has something depressing happen to her that forces her to spend time with guy, and oh wow! They’re soulmates now! Pathetic. Those poor script-writers wouldn’t know originality if it smacked them in the face and called them plagiarizing pieces of garbage. Dongyoung, with his singular creative writing course on his college dropout resume, could do better. To be fair, this new show followed basically the same story… though with a twist.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Protagonist and tragically broke college student Song Seungmin’s love interest was none other than rich chaebol heir Yoon Daehyun. Yoon Daehyun. A man. (Boy, really, though who would argue on the specifics?). KBS banked on casting up-and-coming romance star Seo Youngho as the love interest, and had reached out to Dongyoung for the main role.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">One problem: Dongyoung, much like his new character, actually did like boys.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Yes, the media knew him as Kim Dongyoung, horror movie extraordinaire, absolutely terrible flirt, and even worse chef (he could thank his college roommate Taeil and his terrifyingly successful cooking show for that last one), but they assumed rather wrongly that the fourth point on there would be Straight with a capital S. And yet here he was, pacing back and forth outside KBS, about to accept a role that would out himself to the whole of Korea.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">They started filming in January. It was a cold winter’s evening complete with delicately frosted treetops and frozen riverbanks, but nothing could compare to the icy look on his costar’s face when Dongyoung entered the KBS building.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Youngho was tall, taller than Dongyoung by far (and Dongyoung was never one to call himself short, either). He had dark brown, fluffy hair that reached the bottoms of his pierced ears and wore a soft blue coat that puffed out at the bottom. He himself looked soft, kind, and warmhearted, but the glare leveled down to Dongyoung’s face suggested otherwise.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">“Let me make one thing clear to you. Our characters may be soulmates, but we are not. None of that on-screen business is real. We kiss and we hug and we dance around together in front of the cameras but after? I plan to stay at least ten feet from you and the rest of this freaking cast. I hope you plan on that too.” He stormed away, tiny chestnut ponytail bouncing almost ironically after him.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Anger might just as well have been Youngho’s middle name, as the few weeks out in the cold running lines that they’d experienced so far had all ended in at least three similar discussions. Dongyoung wasn’t quite sure why the other actor seemed to hate him so much, but as long as they could get their jobs done then he guessed it was alright.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">At least this way there was no chance of a scandal of some sort breaking out.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">That's what Dongyoung tried to tell himself that whenever the director would yell “CUT” and the makeup artists would rush over to touch up his eyes or face or whatever needed polishing at the moment while Youngho stood awkwardly in the corner, alone.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Maybe he wanted a little bit of a scandal. Just a bit. Enough for the viewers to wonder if soulmates really did exist… and if they were standing right in front of them.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">In and out. Dongyoung rushed in and out, walking those same three paths every day from the KBS entrance to the recording booth to the director's office to the dining hall. They hadn't even begun the non-greenscreen scenes yet, and Dongyoung was no closer to befriending Youngho, let alone asking the older actor to escape to some deserted island with him.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">The red string of fate, though no more than a pice of tangled yarn on-set, had yet to even symbolically snap in place. There were no flashing eyes or colored strands of hair or any other soulmarkish method Dongyoung could use to prove his point: that he and Youngho were meant to be more than just coworkers with the same general dream. He sighed, placing his hands in his coat pockets as he pushed through the doors, once again spotting Youngho in the corner, frowning at his script.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Their first (and only) KBS-sanctioned date happened nearly a month later. Dongyoung didn’t know exactly when he and Youngho had stopped arguing and started tolerating each other, but he suspected it was sometime around then. There was nothing too graphic in the show, thankfully, but they needed to have at least some on-screen chemistry, and so at the director's insistence, Youngho took him out to a cat café (hoping that they wouldn’t have to talk to each other and could instead watch the kittens play with the small red balls of yarn their owners set out). They made small talk, discussing their grandmothers’ cooking and neighbors’ annoying habits, but never really sharing anything about themselves.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">It was nice, being with Youngho. When he wasn’t yelling about something, at least. He was soft and warm and cuddly: all things he actively tried to suppress. Dongyoung wasn’t sure why, since he was so much nicer when he wasn’t mad. Cuter, too, though Youngho couldn’t know that.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Time bled together, frosty January melting into windy February and budding mid-March, and before Dongyoung knew it, the show was on the air. He and Youngho watched the episodes together. Youngho invited himself over to Dongyoung’s apartment, and somehow ended up on Dongyoung’s couch, bowl of popcorn in hand and fiery anticipation in his eyes.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">"Where are you going? Class? Why bother, when you could stay right here?"</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Daehyun’s face scrunched up with glee as Seungmin curled up beside him on the couch, ready to watch yet another drama or listen to Christmas music months early but ready for the next holiday season.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">“I think I’m in love with you, Daehyun!”<br/><br/>Seungmin’s eyes twinkled, hugging his boyfriend before being twirled around and around, safe in Daehyun’s strong, red-covered arms.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">"Alone. That's all I am. You don't care about me. You never did."</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Daehyun walked out of the Arts Center, leaving a crying Seungmin behind. Tiny strands of the magical yarn connecting the two started to unfurl, leaving bits and pieces behind as Daehyun slowly broke Seungmin’s heart and soul. Soulmate, that is.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span>♔</span>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Seungmin held his hand out to Daehyun. Dongyoung held his own hand out to Youngho.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Daehyun took Seungmin’s hand, pulling the other boy closer on the small wooden bench they shared. Youngho stared at Dongyoung for a second before taking his hand, pulling the other actor closer on the small grey couch they shared.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Seungmin leaned in, resting his head on Daehyun’s shoulder as red lights flickered around them, a bond finally snapping into place. Dongyoung leaned in, resting his head on Youngho’s shoulder as the lights in his apartment flickered on and off, thunderstorm outside plunging them into darkness. Youngho pushed him off slightly, trying to go fix the lights or grab a candle.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Something pulled him back down, though.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">A small string unraveled from the sleeve of Youngho's red sweater, entangling itself around their clasped hands. On-screen, a similar string wrapped around Daehyun and Seungmin's hands as they stared into the moonlight.</p>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p class="p1">Dongyoung smiled, and for the first time in a long while, Youngho smiled back at him.</p>
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